How We’ll Work Together

The foundation of any solid relationship is honesty, right? With that in mind, this page covers everything you’ll need to know about how I work. When I’m working on your content, I’ve already set aside the time and energy to give it my all, and for that time, you’re the only client in my world. You deserve the best and I’m intent on delivering it.

For me to be able to do that, I carefully plan my time and energy–which depends on me doing certain things and on you/your team doing certain things. I like to run a tight ship over here, which is what lets me deliver consistently high quality work while still maintaining a quick turnaround time.

Here’s how we’re going to make that happen:

Office hours and communication:

Office hours are 9-5 Central, Monday through Friday, with the exception of holidays.

We can communicate via email, text, or Slack. I don’t read or answer emails on the weekend (and I don’t expect you to, either).

Scheduled phone calls are fine (within limits), but unscheduled phone calls are reserved for emergencies because of the productivity cost.

If I’m going on vacation or taking time for my family, etc., you will always receive at least one week’s notice. (And typically, a month’s notice with a few reminders, because it’s important to me that I not spring any surprises on you.)

I do editing/revisions inside Google Docs. I create a folder for each client (and with retainer clients, a sub-folder for each week or month), so I can share the folder with you to help you keep organized or just share the pieces as I write them.

Turnaround time and scheduling:

My turnaround time can be as short as 48 hours, if I know to expect a topic/outline from you and we already have a working relationship. If I don’t know to expect the topic, then it’s typically more like 1-2 weeks, though I might be able to squeeze you in sooner with a rush fee.

Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday are my client work days. They are 100% devoted to working on whatever client projects I have going at the moment. This means that if something isn’t sent until midday Thursday, the earliest I can get to it will be the next Tuesday, unless there’s a rush fee involved.

Example: we already have an established working relationship and I know to expect the topics from you. You let me know on Thursday that I’ll have topics the following Monday, and I receive them as planned. I’ll likely have the articles to you by end of day the following Thursday.

However, if I don’t know to expect the topics, I can’t plan ahead for that writing in my week, which lengthens the turnaround time.

Payment:

Invoices are sent through Harvest and you have the option of either paying through Paypal or paying via credit/debit card (securely processed through Stripe). We can also do direct deposit, especially if we have an ongoing project of at least 90 days.

All invoices are net 7. If you opt to pay via Paypal e-check, the due date includes the processing time (2-4 business days on average, which means the invoice needs to be paid within 1-2 business days of receipt to be on time).

If we’re working together on an ongoing basis, I offer automatic recurring billing on a biweekly basis for both of our convenience (and reduction of administrative tasks).

I don’t accept checks with new clients. Once we’ve established a working relationship of at least 90 days and all payments have been prompt, we can revisit that as an option.

Retainer details:

I’m happy to work with retainer clients, where we have an ongoing arrangement of X articles (or Y words, or Z edited words, or any combination of the above) delivered monthly for a flat fee. The pricing is going to depend on your needs, your industry, the length of the articles, and so on.

If you want to work together on a retainer basis or ask about retainer availability, the best thing to do is drop me a note. Here are a few more notes on how I work with retainer clients:

Retainer billing is biweekly unless we arrange otherwise.

If we’re working together on a retainer basis, I need to have the content/outlines (if you’re supplying them) by end of day Monday each week, to ensure that I can turn them around by the end of day on Thursday without rushing, turning in shoddy work, or sacrificing time/energy that I was planning on spending on other clients.

If we’re working together on a retainer basis and you aren’t supplying the topics/outlines, I’ll send topic suggestions on either Friday or Monday (it’s up to you!) so they can be approved by EOD Monday and keep my turnaround time on track for that week.

Retainer words/articles don’t roll over month to month, with one exception. If we’ve used less than 90% of your retainer wordcount (or article count) in a given month and it was due to an error on my part–falling behind schedule, being sick, etc.–then I’ll either refund you the difference or we can roll those words over to the next month, your choice.

If we have a set weekly schedule of articles or words per week (as I typically set up with retainer clients), and said schedule relies on me receiving information/outlines/topics from you, and I don’t receive that information within our agreed-upon timelines, for whatever reason, then the wordcount or articles for that week are nixed.

The reason for these rules is simple: because breaking them isn’t fair to my other clients. I have several ongoing commitments and I’m dedicated to serving each client to the best of my ability–at the risk of sounding pretentious, it’s a responsibility I take very seriously as a business owner and a service provider.

If I let agreed-upon deadlines slide and let word-counts pile up week to week, then I suddenly have 7,000 words to write in one week at the end of the month. Actually doing that amount of work would mean falling short on my other client work, effectively punishing those clients who are abiding by our timeline rules and are also depending on me for content. You can appreciate why that’s not fair to them, and see how you wouldn’t want to be on the receiving end of that as a client.

Of course–I want to know how you work best so that we can make sure my working style meshes with your team and editorial calendar, and that I’m following your rules, to create our best work together. So feel free to send me your own guidelines and best practices, and ask questions about mine. I look forward to working together!